I was approached by the Street-To-Home non profit society to make a memorial bench for one of their founders who was retiring. What a great cause to support with my woodworking. I designed the bench and layout of the wording working with their team to find the right fit. It was interesting to make their logo work with my carving and painting limitations (using only postive and negative spaces) but I did use a fun green interferance that worked out really well (as they have green in the actual logo as well).
The bench is made entirely from salvaged old growth red cedar driftwood. After salvaging the wood on the beach I bring it back to my shop (with furniture I let it dry first) and split it by hand with the froe to get the shapes I need for each piece of the furniture. Then I begin with planing and rough sanding each piece. Next I fit the pieces together and do all the joinery using my Festool Domino Joiner. The domino is amazing, it drills ovalish mortises and I can use a floating tenon with glue to make the joinery. Once the bench has been dry fitted to insure good fit, I did a finish sanding and then drew the design, carved and painted the back of the bench. I like to glue up the whole piece at once usually. When it is glued I do any finish sanding needed (usually from the clamps pressure) and then finish with two coats of OSMO PolyX if indoor or an OSMO outdoor oil.
I delivered this bench to Vancouver and the office of Street-to-home where it will live and be used by everyone passing by. Thank you to Rob for the project!
